Gun Falls Out Onto Ground at Tampa Movie Theater

Earlier this month Tampa police responded to a call from an AMC movie theater when a patron’s firearm accidentally dropped to the floor. (News story below)

To share my own incriminating story, I recall many years ago shortly after receiving my concealed carry permit but shortly before my first holster came in the mail I decided to carry my concealed handgun in my belt. While attending a college class at Utah Valley University I stood up to turn in my test and my gun slipped down the inside of my pants into one of the legs. I promptly sat back down and spent the next 20 minutes trying to get the gun out the bottom of the pant and into my backpack without anyone seeing the gun or thinking I was cheating on my test. I was luckily able to learn a very valuable lesson without the potential crisis that it could have caused.

So the lesson for us all to remember today is that we have an obligation to safety for ourselves and for others to secure our firearms well. Invest in a quality holster with strong retention and use it properly. Don’t handle, fiddle with, or remove the firearm unless absolutely necessary. Remember the off duty officer who shot himself in an elevator a little while back? (Video Here). Don’t be that guy/gal!

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Tampa Police Department officers on Sunday night responded to a call about someone who had a gun at a local movie theater.

At about 8:45 p.m., police received a 911 call from a patron at the AMC Westshore 14 movie theater, which is located at the WestShore Plaza shopping center.

The movie patron said that there was a person inside one of the theaters who was “handling a firearm,” according to TPD.

Police responded to the scene and determined that a person who had a valid concealed firearms carry permit was seated in the theater and had accidentally dropped his firearm to the floor and retrieved and re-holstered it.

Officers determined that the firearm fell out of the holster, it was not removed from the holster and there were no criminal violations.

The movie patron was was released at the scene, according to police. There was no evacuation of the theater or interruption of the movie. –WFLA 9/7/15